Indian troops cross Kashmir border to help Pakistanis

SRINAGAR, India, Thursday (AFP) - Indian soldiers crossed the de facto border dividing the Indian and Pakistani zones of disputed Kashmir to rebuild a quake-destroyed bunker, an Indian army spokesman said.

"It is unprecedented in the manner that our soldiers have gone across the border to extend help," Lieutenant Colonel K. Seghal told AFP in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir.

The new spirit of camaraderie in the high-altitude battle zone was a remarkable change from the tense mood that usually prevails in Kashmir over which India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars.

Helicopters from the two sides have also been criss-crossing freely over the usually heavily militarised Line of Control - something that would usually see them shot down.

The Indian soldiers crossed a bridge that spans the Line of Control, the 770-kilometre (477-mile) de facto border that divides the two zones of the Himalayan territory, Seghal said.

"A few soldiers from the Pakistani side shouted for help to our boys to clear the debris and in adverse weather conditions our soldiers went across to re-do their flattened bunkers so that they could sleep at night," he said.